Historical information

The words for this song come from a Christmas song by Christina Rossetti. The poem was first published in 1885. The words have been set to music many times but the composer of this piece is James A. Steele, a well-known Australian music teacher and composer in the mid 20th century.

Significance

This sheet music is retained as an interesting piece of music from the mid 20th century. As well, the owner of the music appears to have been Shirley Goldstraw, a descendant of the Goldstraw family that settled in the Naringal/Nullawarre area in the mid 19th century.

Physical description

This is a sheet of paper folded in two to make four pages. The pages contain the music for a song called ‘Love Came Down at Christmas’. The pages are torn at the edges with some small sections missing. The front page is stained. The inscription is handwritten in black ink.

Inscriptions & markings

‘S. Goldstraw’